where you're sitting today, mr. president, the vice president, sitting in that cha chair, they have ruled on the meaning of article 1, section 5. in 1957, vice president nixon ruled that -- quote -- "the right of the current majority of the senate at the beginning of a new congress to adopt its own rules, standing as it does from the constitution itself, cannot be restricted or limited by rules adopted by a majority of previous congress -- of a previous congress." vice presidents rockefeller, vice president humphrey made simple rulings at the beginning of later congresses. the constitution is clear and there is also a long-standing common law principle upheld in the supreme court, that one legislature cannot bind its successors. many of my republican colleagues have made the same argument. for example, in 2003, senator john cornyn wrote in a law review article, "just as one congress cannot enact a law that a subsequent congress could not amend by a majority vote, one senate cannot enact a rule that a subsequent sena